Cooking With Coffee

Forget fine wines, vintage whisky or cold beers on hot summer afternoons. Everyone knows coffee is the good stuff. There for you at the start of every day, a deep bitter and exciting kick.

UK Coffee Week begins today (29th April until 5th May) and while we deliberate over a double espresso or an iced latte, it’s worth remembering that coffee is not just a drink but a flavour that can transform a dish – sweet or savoury.

First things first. The coffee beans. With such an array to choose from, where to start? And why is it best to grind your own beans? And what type of grinder? Yikes, it’s confusing. The reason we should grind coffee from the beans themselves is because that way you’ll get better flavour because of freshness – the coffee won’t have oxidised.

We like this simple grinder by Kitchen Craft which is a bargainous £6.99. In terms of beans, it’s a matter of taste. We love Jamaican Blue as it is relatively mild – but honestly, you could argue for days about which type of bean tastes best, so we recommend some trial and error!

So, once you are fully ground, what to do with the fruits of your labour?

And while coffee lends itself to sweet things, we love it when paired with more savoury dishes too. Coffee infused baked beans for an extra kick at breakfast are nothing short of genius. There are loads of ways to make them but we think this recipe has the edge.

Lastly, meat and coffee are a potent mix. A few ago, we had steak which had been marinated in coffee and have tried endlessly to replicate the taste. This recipe from Waitrose is the closest we got to that perfect memory.

What are your favourite recipes featuring coffee?

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